The instant invention relates generally to game boards and more particularly to a table top game board having a pair of folded alleys which meet at a common scoring region.
Table top game boards of various sizes and designs have long been popular as amusement devices. Frequently they are scaled down counterparts of games initially designed as outdoor games. Just as frequently they incorporate variations and additions either permitted or necessitated by their smaller size which add to the fun and challenge of playing.
One general class of games which has undergone such diminution, variation and addition are those which may be generally classified as alley or shuffle board games. Several such board games are the subjects of United States patents. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,312,882 illustrates a game board having a single alley bounded at one end and along portions of both sides by resilient bumpers. At the opposite end is a common shooting and scoring area delineated on three sides by a gutter. It is apparent that the common shooting and scoring area can inhibit certain plays and scoring strategies. U.S. Pat. No. 2,990,180 discloses a similar device having a centrally disposed divider which extends along a portion of the playing surface thereby dividing it into first and second shooting and scoring alleys. While this configuration separates the shooting and scoring areas of one player from those of the other, this separation may reduce the challenge of the game inasmuch as players are unable to displace the playing pieces of their opponents from one scoring location to another.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,174,752 teaches a variation of the above-discussed U.S. Pat. No. 2,990.180. Here, a pair of similar alleys are disposed at an acute angle to one another. A rebounding surface disposed across the intersecting common ends of both alleys is so positioned that is permits a single rebound return from the alley of one player to the alley of the other. U.S. Pat. No. 3,239,226 illustrates a miniature curling game table having a movable surface. A single alley includes a shooting area at one end and a circular scoring region at the other surrounded on three sides by rectilinear gutters. Table surfaces are movable to simulate the action of a curling stone on ice.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,762,711 discloses a portable shuffle board game having a single folded alley with adjacent shooting and scoring regions at one end of the game board and a rebounding barrier at the other. Although this device permits players to displace their opponent's pieces in the scoring region, both must use the same shooting alley which is inconvenient and which detracts from the competitive nature of such a game.
From a review of the foregoing devices disclosed in these United States patents, it becomes apparent that additional improvements in the art of table top amusement games are both possible and desirable.